Elvira, maîtresse des ténèbres

The basic plot: Shlocky horror movie hostess Elvira goes to a small,uptight,puritan town where she encounters an evil uncle, a hunk, some disgruntled teenagers, and some black magic.

The praise:Elvira. She is the smoky, the sexy, campy, the shlocky, the shticky the great one. The entire movie is a send-up of shlock horror, horror, porn,sex,porn,breasts,supernatural movies, show-biz movies, Camp,80's movies, materialism, Vegas, british horror,teen movies,middle-aged horniness, and horror parodies. All with a great soundtrack, a lot of yuks, and the smoky, the best, and better, Elvira. I don't know why I like it all,moreover it being my favorite movie,but who cares!It all ends with a great shlocky, glittering Vegas number! The must-see movie!

This movie is simply the best horror-film parody ever made. And it's also just one darned enjoyable flick. I guess you could call it a guilty pleasure. True, it is pure cornball, but I have grown to love it, and I watch it regularly every year around Halloween, since (naturally) several channels on TV routinely feature it as part of that select batch of Halloween pictures that just scream for annual broadcasting.

Extremely well filmed (IMHO), I am always really amazed at how nice it is to see it again each year – it holds up well and looks fantastic even today, after 13 years.

From a physical perspective, Elvira (Cassandra Peterson) - with that showgirl figure and that over-the-top tight-fitting black costume - just grabs your attention with both, um, *hands*, from the get go, and never lets go. But there's much more to revel in here than just her physical assets: her acting, her ditzy charm and irreverent risqué sense of humor will just have you lapping it up. In short, you'll just love Elvira from top to bottom (unlike the townies in the story, many of whom decidedly did not take kindly to her sudden arrival in their up-tight little burg in Massachusetts).

This movie is just busting out all over with titillating, slightly off-color humor (or: off-colour humour for those of you on the other side of the Atlantic) from start to finish. There are many funny and memorable lines in this movie of the double-entendre variety; it's hard to keep abreast of them all. (I'd list a few of my racier favorites here, but in the interest of not offending the delicate sensibilities of anyone reading this who is NOT into that sort of humor, well, it might be best for you to just go watch the movie and compile your own list).

I can't say anything bad about this movie at all, except that sadly it does end, and you are left wanting more (of Elvira). LOTS more. Alas, c'est la vie.

When a chauvinist millionaire buys the TV network where the sexy Elvira (Cassandra Peterson) is the horror hostess of a late show, she quits her job with the intention of producing a show of her own in Las Vegas. However the producers demand 50 thousand dollars from her and Elvira does not have the money. Out of the blue, she receives a telegram informing that her great aunt Morgana died and she has an inheritance to receive. Elvira drives to Fallwell, in Massachusets, where her car breaks. While repairing the car, Elvira inherits an old house, a recipe book and a poodle. Her great uncle Vincent Talbot (W. Morgan Sheppard) proposes to buy her book, but the poodle hides it in the sofa. Meanwhile the conservative council of Fallwell feels uncomfortable with Elvira's clothes and behavior and does not let her find a job. But the cinema owner Bob Redding (Daniel Greene) and the local teenagers help Elvira. When she decides to cook a dinner to impress Bob, she uses Morgana's recipe and finds that it is indeed a spell book that belonged to her mother Divana. Further, Morgana has protected her from the warlock Vincent that wants the book to take over the world and destroy Elvira, who is a powerful witch. When Elvira refuses to sell the spell book to Vincent, her convinces the council that she is a witch that must be burned at the stake. How will Elvira stop the evil Vincent?

"Elvira: Mistress of the Dark" is a funny cult-trash that works for the fans. This cheesy film is hilarious despite all the silliness and the sexy Cassandra Peterson is the responsible for making it worthwhile watching. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Elvira: A Rainha das Trevas" ("Elvira: The Queen of the Darkness")

OK, I saw this in the theaters when it came out and I don't know why. I haven't seen it since, but I ended up on this page because I found myself thinking about this film - again I don't know why. But the fact that I remember it speaks volumes.

Comedy is hard - much harder than any drama. Doing it right makes it seem easy, but doing it wrong ... is there anything worse than a bad comedy? Steve Martin, pay attention, you are falling in this category again for some reason.

Elvira Mistress Of The Dark must have done it right for me to remember this movie fondly. Done at a quick pace, with tongue in cheek and knowing it isn't the Philedelphia Story, it entertains from start to finish. Brain Donors is another that fits right in this category (sans most of the gratuitous boob jokes).

One point of contention - the ending. It seems the writers/director had no idea how to finish a comedy. The ending tries to be a love story, somewhat undermining the quirky fast-paced dialogue up to that point. Then there is the "tassle" scene. Whereas this has to be seen (male opinion), it is so over the top and out of place it's like a shock. One more rewrite for the ending was needed.

This is not comedy genius like Spinal Tap or The Producers or The Holy Grail. But if you don't try to dissect it and just let the puns and sappy fun come to you, you'll laugh, I guarantee it.

OK, this movie is stupid. I mean that in a good way though.It was stupid on purpose, and was one of the better "stupid" movies I've seen. The jokes and gags are purposefully bad, but delivered in a way that it struck all the right notes with me. The supporting characters were pretty shallow and mediocre. There is a pretty weak plot, but it works just fine.

Elvira's character is the focus here.She is lovable and adorable.Cassandra Petersen has a world of acting talent that just glows in this movie.On top of that acting talent she had physical attributes which were frankly, stunning. Few men could disagree with that. The parts that show off her figure were also some of the funnier scenes in the movie.

I had a smile ear to ear from the first scene to the last.

Highly recommended to fans of comedy, and to fans of beautiful women. I wish they had made a dozen more Elvia movies.